Hand stamp for printing individual characters



July 1, 1969 K. w. WHITELOCK 3,452,675

HAND STAMP FOR PRINTING INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS Filed April 13, 1966 INVENTOR. KENLY W. WHITELOCK.

3Y5 MALLINCKRODT 8 MALLINCKRODT AT TORNE Y5 United States Patent 3,452,675 HAND STAMP FOR PRINTING INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS Kenly W. Whitelock, 2687 South 18th East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84401 Filed Apr. 13, 1966, Ser. No. 542,411 Int. Cl. B41k 1/56 US. Cl. 101-405 14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hand stamp is constructed so that in use the printing surface of a selected character is brought into parallel relationship with the surface being imprinted coincidentally with engagement of the two surfaces. In its preferred form, the stamp comprises a T-shaped body member with legs depending from its underside near the respective ends of the crossbar and a stamp head holder depending parallel to the legs near the end of the shank of the T opposite the crossbar.

This invention relates to hand-operated stamping devices and is particularly related to such devices used for the printing of individual characters, i.e., musical, mathematical or alphabetical characters.

A common difficulty with hand-operated stamps, in general, is that a user will often smudge and misalign the characters being printed because they are difiicult to manipulate. A number of devices have been developed to overcome this difficulty, but, so far as is known, none have been entirely satisfactory. It is characteristic of many such devices that a guide means, which is flexibly or slidably attached to the stamp, is first placed upon the surface to be stamped, and then additional pressure is applied to force a printing face against the surface. However, if the guide means is not stable, or if the connection between the guide member and the stamp is loose there can be undesired movement of the stamping member relative to the guide that will still result in smudging and misalignment of the characters being printed. Furthermore, if the guide means surrounds the character to be printed it may obscure visibility, making placement of the character difiicult.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, stable, hand stamp so constructed that the printing surface of the selected character is placed in parallel relationship with the surface being imprinted conincidentally with their engagement.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hand stamp than can be easily used with straight edges or other alignment means and also that can be easily positioned and aligned without the use of additional guide structure.

In one form the invention also provides a hand stamp including an assortment of characters from which any one may be selected for stamping.

Principal features of the present invention are a generally T-shaped body that has legs depending from each of the ends of the crossbar portion of the body and a stamp holder depending from the shank portion. The legs and the stamp holder thus form a stable three-point support for the body and the unit is easily manipulated to place a stamp wherever desired. Alignment means are provided on the stamp holder to serve as a guide in properly positioning a stamp head carried thereby. The stamp head can be either permanently fixed to the stamp holder, or it can be removably connected so that it can be interchanged. The support member can also be constructed to carry a plurality of stamps that can be selectively placed in position for stamping.

There is shown in the accompanying drawing specific 3,452,675 Patented July 1, 1969 embodiments of the invention representing what is presently regarded as the best modes of carrying out the generic concepts in actual practice. From the detailed description of these presently preferred forms of the invention, other more specific objects and features will become apparent.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention;

FIG. 2, a side elevation of the invention on a surface;

FIG. 3, a top plan view of the invention;

FIG. 4, a fragmentary perspective and exploded view of a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5, a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6, a fragmentary perspective view of still another embodiment of the invention.

Referring to the drawing:

As shown in FIG. 1, the invention includes a T-shaped body 10 having a shank 11 and a crossbar 12. Two spaced legs 13 are attached to the underside of the crossbar 12 near the ends thereof, and a stamp-head holder 14 is fixed to the underside of the shank 11 so that a portion 15 of the shank 11 projects beyond the stamp holder 14 to provide a convenient pressure surface. A raised character 16, having a printed surface 17, is carried by the lower end of the stamp holder 14. The raised character can be formed integral with the bottom end of holder 14 to form a stamp head or the stamp head can be separately formed but permanently attached in any conventional manner. Thus, as is show in FIG. 4, the stamp head can also be formed as a separate plug 18 with a neck 19 adapted to be inserted into a hole 20 provided for the purpose in the end of the stamp holder. The neck is frictionally held in hole 20 and plugs can be interchanged as desired to change the character to be printed. Preferably, enlarged head 21 is made of transparent material so the user can see through to position the character 16. The raised character 16 is then formed on the underside of an enlarged head 21. A replica 16a of the character 16 is applied to or formed on the top surface of the shank 11, as is shown in FIG. 3, so that a user can easily identify the stamp. If desired, the replicas can be made interchangeable in the same manner as the character 16. The legs 13 are smoothly rounded at their tips 22 to prevent damage to the surface being stamped as the hand stamp is used in the manner to be more fully explained.

With either the integral or the removable stamp head it is important that the entire printing surface 17 (FIG. 2) of the raised character 16 lie in a plane formed with the free tips 22 at the distal ends of legs 13. Thus, the printing surface 17 is parallel with a flat surface to be stamped whenever the tips 22 of the legs 13 are thereon and the character is moved into contact with the surface. To operate the invention, a user will first ink the stamp head and then place the tips 22 of legs 13 in contact with the surface to be stamped. The body will then be rotated, using the tips 22 of legs 13 as pivot points, until surface 17 of character 16 is brought into contact with the surface being stamped. Pressure is then applied by pushing on extension portion 15 of shank 11, and the character 16 is raised from the printed surface. A register mark 23 on one or both sides of the stamp holder 14 may be used in guiding the character into a desired stamping position and is particularly valuable where a transparent stamp head is not used. If desired, a straightedge may be used to align successive characters and it is only necessary to place both legs 13 against the straightedge, and to slide the unit therealong, since these legs are fixed a uniform distance from the character 16.

The raised character 16 may transfer ink to the surface being stamped in any conventional manner. For example,

before printing, an inked roller may be passed over the printing face 17; the printing face may first be impressed upon an ink pad; or the raised character 16 may be permanently impregnated with ink or other colored and transferable material.

The embodiment illustrated by FIGS. 1 through 4 comprises a hand stamp wherein the body member is T-shaped with a shank 11 connected at the middle of a crossbar 12. A pair of spaced parallel legs 13 depend from the underside of the crossbar near the respective ends thereof and a stamp head holder 14 depends from the underside of the shank, parallel to said legs, near the end of the shank opposite the aforementioned end of the shank. Both the stamp head holder and the legs are shaped as sections of cones with axes normal the body member and with major diameters adjacent the body member.

Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 5, wherein the stamp holder, here designated 24, is formed by a pair of legs 25 and 26 that depend from the shank 11. A stamp wheel 21 is journaled between the holder legs on an axle 28 that passes through the center of the wheel. A plurality of raised characters 29 are either permanently fixed or removably attached in the manner disclosed with reference to FIG. 4, to the peripheral edge of the wheel 27. At least one of the holder legs 25 or 26 extends downwardly approximately to the edge of the wheel 27 and has a register mark 30 thereon to facilitate alignment of the character on the surface to be printed. This mark also allows a user to insure proper positioning of the character to be printed as the wheel 27 is rotated. For this purpose wheel 27 preferably has a raised radial line 31, corresponding with each raised character 29 on at least one of its sides. These raised radial lines function as finger grips by which the operator can turn the wheel 27 with precision, and also as positioning means. When a raised line 31 is placed in alignment with the register mark 30, the corresponding character on the wheel is properly positioned to print.

Although wheel 27 is rotatable on its axle 28 it is not freely rotatable. As illustrated, the legs 25 and 26 grip the wheel tightly and prevent its turning inadvertently during printing operations. Other means could as well be used to prevent turning of the wheel during a stamping operation. For example, the raised radial lines 31 could be rotated into a recessed groove provided therefor on the inside of the lower end of a leg, the natural resiliency of the material from which the leg is made allowing the leg to yield as the raised lines are moved into and out of the groove. Other positive detent means could also be used.

After the desired character has been selected by aligning a radial line 31 and a register mark 30, this embodiment of the invention can be used in the same manner described in connection with the previously disclosed embodiments.

To facilitate selection of a stamping character from among a number of characters carried by a stamp it may be desirable to provide an index wheel such as is shown at 33, FIG. 6. The index wheel is of smaller diameter than the wheel 27 but is fixed to the same axle shaft 28, outside one of the legs. Characters 29a are provided on the periphery of index wheel 33, so that each character 29 on the wheel 27 has a counterpart character positioned diametrically opposite on the index wheel. As so constructed a user can easily dial the index wheel to position a desired character on the top of the wheel for easy viewing. This will then automatically position the corresponding raised character on the wheel 27 for printing.

In each embodiment of the invention the printing surface of the raised characters is made fiat and when positioned for use in printing will lie in a plane formed with the tips 22 of legs 13.

The stamp of the invention can be made of any suitable material or materials, such as plastic, wood, or metal, or combinations thereof, and the stamping heads, including 4 the raised characters can be made of the same or different materials such as rubber, as is desired.

Whereas this invention is here describedand illustrated with respect to certain forms thereof, it is to be understood that many variations are possible without departing from the subject matter particularly pointed out in the following claims, which subject matter I regard as my invention.

I claim:

1. A hand stamp for printing individual characters on a surface comprising a body member;

a stamp head holder depending from the body member;

a stamp head carried by the end of said stamp head holder opposite said body member; and

support means depending from said body member a fixed distance from said stamp head holder, adapted for placement on the surface to be printed, and providing rocker means for said body member, whereby said body member is rotatable to place a surface of said stamp head in flat engagement with a flat surface on which said rocker means is provided.

2. A hand stamp according to claim 1, wherein the body member is T-shaped with a shank connected at the middle of a crossbar; the support means comprise a pair of spaced, parallel legs depending from the underside of the crossbar near the respective ends thereof; and the stamp head holder depends from the underside of the shank, parallel to said legs, near the end of the shank opposite the aforementioned connected end of the shank.

3. A hand stamp according to claim 2 wherein the stamp head holder and the legs are shaped as sections of cones with axes normal to said body member and with the major diameter adjacent said body member.

4. A hand stamp for printing individual characters on a surface comprising a body member having a crossbar and a shank;

a leg depending from each end of the crossbar, the distal end of each being formed as a free tip adapted for placement on the surface to be printed to function as a pivot point for said stamp;

a stamp head holder depending from the shank, a fixed distance from the legs;

a stamp head carried by the end of said stamp head holder opposite said shank; and

at least one raised character on said stamp head, the printing surface of said character being arranged to lie in a plane formed with the free tips of the legs depending from the crossbar.

5. A hand stamp according to claim 4, wherein the stamp head is integral with the stamp head holder.

6. A hand stamp according to claim 4, wherein the stamp head is detachably carried by the stamp head holder.

7. A hand stamp according to claim 4, wherein the stamp head is transparent.

8. A hand stamp according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of raised characters are provided on the stamp head, and further including means for selectively positioning one of said raised characters for printing.

9. A hand stamp according to claim 8, wherein the stamp head is circular and the plurality of raised characters are positioned on the periphery of the stamp head.

10. A hand stamp according to claim 9, further including means for preventing inadvertent rotation of the stamping head.

11. A hand stamp according to claim 10, wherein the stamp head holder extends from the shank, to adjacent to the position of the raised characters when they are positioned for printing, and further including a register mark thereon to facilitate positioning of the character on a surface to be stamped; and

guide lines adjacent each character and arranged to be 5 6 aligned with the register mark to thereby position a register mark thereon to facilitate positioning of the the characters for printing. character on a surface to be stamped. 12. A hand stamp according to claim 11, further 4 including References Cited an indtexhwheetl fixed to the stiampitng tl111ead colpnter- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS par 0 arac ers correspon mg 0 e raise c aracters on the stamping head, but positioned diametricaligg 1 n 101-298 1y opposite thereto and on the index wheel. 27 9/192 Splelman 1O1 110 13. A hand stamp according to claim 4, wherein 2 2 2 H1928 McAniny 101 368 X the shank extends from the crossbar, beyond the stamp 10 O 2/19 7 McFar and 101 333 X head holder to provide a pressure application portion. 14. A hand stamp according to claim 4, wherein ROBERT PULFREY P'lmary Examiner the stamp head holder extends from the shank to ad- FRED A. WINANS, Assistant Examiner.

jacent to the raised character and further including 

